Resumo

With the expansion of food delivery services, the demand for packaging has increased, intensifying the environmental impact due to the depletion of non-renewable resources, pollutant emissions, and excessive waste accumulation (European Commission, 2018). The production of packaging for food services requires significant amounts of natural resources, such as fossil fuels, contributing to climate change and biodiversity loss (Han et al., 2022).

Despite the importance of this topic, there is still little research on the internal and external factors perceived as relevant by merchants for a transition from plastic packaging. Recent literature has mainly focused on designing or describing innovative business models that integrate the principles of the circular economy through informal evidence. Thus, the objective of this research is to measure the factors that influence the intention to adopt sustainable packaging to align with the principles of the circular economy in the food delivery service.

Although the traditional components of the TPB model (attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) have been successful in predicting human intentions and behaviors, many researchers argue that additional variables should be incorporated into the TPB model to increase its explanatory power (Botetzagias et al., 2015; Chen and Tung, 2010; Geiger et al., 2019; Khan et al., 2019; Singh et al., 2018; Tonglet et al., 2004). Ajzen (1991, p. 199) points out that "the theory of planned behavior is open to the inclusion of additional predictors".

This research is causal in nature, as it tests the relationships between constructs linked by unidirectional arrows through structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling is the most recommended method, given its capability to analyze causal relationships within the model and to verify whether the independent variables explain the dependent variable (Hair et al., 2016). Data collection occurred between May 28 and June 29, 2023. Thus, 315 (three hundred and fifteen) respondents who completed the questionnaire were considered for analysis.

The research results were divided into three stages: the first brings the evaluation of the measurement model; the second presents the evaluation of the structural model; the third exposes the analysis of the structural paths (Γ) and the hypothesis tests. The path coefficients of the model conclusively demonstrated that all hypotheses formulated in this research were confirmed. These results revealed significant findings regarding the adoption of sustainable packaging in food delivery services, demonstrating how these practices can favor the circular economy in services.

This research used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to investigate the factors influencing the adoption of sustainable packaging in food delivery services, aiming to align with the principles of the circular economy. The results highlighted the importance of elements such as subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, attitude, awareness of consequences, perceived benefit, environmental knowledge, and environmental concern in the decision to adopt sustainable packaging.

Ajzen, I., 1991. The theory of planned behavior. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 50, 179–211. Cozzolino, A., De Giovanni, P., 2023. Portfolios of sustainable practices for packaging in the circular economy: an analysis of Italian firms. Int. J. Logist. Manag. 34, 24–49. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-03-2022-0132. Hair Jr., J. F.; Hult, G. T. M.; Ringle, C. M.; Sarstedt, M., 2016. A Primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), 2. ed. ed. Sage Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA.